Got Chickens? Update No. 2.

[Lawdog Dago Dom]

Thinking about 4 to 6 hens for egg production. Many folks in these parts do it, and say it's probably the easiest farm animal to manage.

 

Wondering if anyone has some tips to pass along before this adventure begins.

 

Thank you!

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

I seem to recall Uncle Hardpan having some musings about having chooks ........  

[Cypress Sun]

Keep in mind that your eggs that are priced at about 45 cents in the store will now cost about $1.25 each due to feed and other costs according to a cost analysis that I read about a week ago.

[Matthew Duncan]

18 minutes ago, Lawdog Dago Dom said:

Thinking about 4 to 6 hens for egg production. Many folks in these parts do it, and say it's probably the easiest farm animal to manage.

 

Wondering if anyone has some tips to pass along before this adventure begins.

 

Thank you!

Chicken wire is used to keep chickens in not for keeping predators out!

[Smokin Gator SASS #29736]

10 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

Keep in mind that your eggs that are priced at about 45 cents in the store will now cost about $1.25 each due to feed and other costs according to a cost analysis that I read about a week ago.

 

That is probably true similar to the cost of reloading when you first get set up. At a certain point the equipment is payed for then the ammo or eggs are much cheaper.

[Pat Riot]

Chicken tastes good…

[Rye Miles #13621]

You have to be on constant alert for predators, there’s also possible disease. I think it would nothing but a big huge pain in the neck! Just MHO .
I know a few people that have some chickens and they admit it’s a big pain. 

[DeaconKC]

Also, who will watch them when you travel?

 

[Rip Snorter]

2 minutes ago, DeaconKC said:

Also, who will watch them when you travel?

 

Good neighbors?  Plus, auto feeders and waterers.  The former, of course, better. I have a rancher couple for friends, we get magnificent free range eggs.  

[PowderRiverCowboy]

Honestly , you would be better off finding a local raised source and  buy as you need .

[Trigger Mike]

I put up dog kennel panels and also panel on top of one end and tin on the other and it is 10 x20 with a gated dog kennel panel in the middle holding up the roof and to keep them under shelter if need be.  Others don’t need as heavy duty fencing but here foxes and coyotes abound.  A pack was yipping nearby tonight.   There is also a black panther I’ve seen.  I haven’t lost one in years.
 

get a good coop as the cheap ones tractor supply sells are for city folk.  I bought one half off once to try and it lasted less than a week before something pushed thru the fence.  
 

while it is expensive, having a source for eggs when needed is a great benefit.   If you keep them penned disease is not as likely.  If the free graze super yellow yokes are wonderful.  I feed fresh grass to mine sometimes.  It helps.  

once in a while I take a shovel and scoop out the top layer of manure dirt for my garden.  I also sometimes take a couple and put them in a small coop where my garden will be to fertilize and eat weeds and bugs and move the coop around.  Helps a little.  

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Yup... I got 'em.  At last count, five Buff Orpington hens (had eight; there is the attrition thing), one "mutt" feral hen and her two surviving offspring, and a gorgeous, very well behaved white Leghorn rooster who just moved in one day*.  I named him "Harland."

*Used to belong to a neighbor, who had a mean ol' roo who'd beat up Harland with some regularity 'til he left home.

 

During laying season** I always have a surplus of eggs.  As noted above, they're really no bargain price wise, but they are significantly better than store-bought eggs.  By the way... supermarket eggs are often several months old by the time you buy 'em.

*These guys... er... gals, that is... need something like 14 hours of light a day to lay well.  If I put a light in the coop with a timer they keep on producing through the winter.

 

I will mostly agree with Matt Duncan on the chicken wire - but properly installed, it will protect the girls from minor predators, like house cats.  Cats won't bother the adult birds, but they find chicks to be quite yummy.  My chicken pen is six ft kennel panels, 24 x 18, with a chicken wire "lid."  

 

On the "disease" front, I always vaccinate my new chicks for "fowl pox."  It's fast and simple.

 

I've lost a number of birds over the years, mostly from old age or heat (black chickens are a bad idea in these parts), and a number of feral chickens who just moved into my yard were killed by predators.  I found six dead under a roosting tree one morning.  Haven't lost any since Mister Pogo the 'Possum got hisself dispatched with a MAS 45 and a single CCI CB Long.

 

But they still contribute.  My lot is 1/3 acre, fenced.  I let my birds free roam during the day, and they do a marvelous job of keeping the area pretty much bug-free.  

 

Oh... and should one wonder, I did not enter the "chicken biz" by design.  The first ones literally just moved in, and I had a soft heart.  Or head.  

[Smokin Gator SASS #29736]

When we first got layers I  didn't know if you'd occasionally have some problem that would wipe out all the chickens. We are in the northern Sacramento Valley on 3.3 acres and have no problem with predators. People in the foothills or near creeks or creekbeds have problems with raccoons. Ours free range all day but go back into their large entirely enclosed pen at night.

 

Occasionally one will die but very few over the years. Our pen is about 25 feet long and 12 feet wide. Behind it is a large fenced in garden area. We put many wheelbarrows of donkey manure and straw from our goat barn in the area. In the spring we let the chickens in there and when they were done it looked like we had dumped a truckload of perfect manure compost in there. 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

9 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

By the way... supermarket eggs are often several months old by the time you buy 'em.

 

That is a myth.  Egg consumption in the USA is estimated at 293 per person per year.

that would be 96 billion per year for USA.  The supply chain does not have enough slack to warehouse even a week’s supply of eggs.  Your odds of getting old eggs at the supermarket are right up there with winning the powerball. How many in your city have won the powerball?

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

31 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

That is a myth.  Egg consumption in the USA is estimated at 293 per person per year.

that would be 96 trillion per year for USA.  The supply chain does not have enough slack to warehouse even a week’s supply of eggs.  Your odds of getting old eggs at the supermarket are right up there with winning the powerball. How many in your city have won the powerball?

 

Oh, it's definitely not the case now... but before the egg crisis... or chicken crisis... oh heck, which came first??  

[Smokin Gator SASS #29736]

1 hour ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

That is a myth.  Egg consumption in the USA is estimated at 293 per person per year.

that would be 96 trillion per year for USA.  The supply chain does not have enough slack to warehouse even a week’s supply of eggs.  Your odds of getting old eggs at the supermarket are right up there with winning the powerball. How many in your city have won the powerball?

 

293 x 330,000,000 population is approximately 96 billion not trillion.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

43 minutes ago, Smokin Gator SASS #29736 said:

 

293 x 330,000,000 population is approximately 96 billion not trillion.

Right, sorry.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

2 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

 

Oh, it's definitely not the case now... but before the egg crisis... or chicken crisis... oh heck, which came first??  

Even then, in my early teen years I worked on a dairy farm, cows, pigs, and chickens. We had a two level chicken house, 350-400 chickens per level, when they were laying it would be 600 or more eggs a day, I would pick them up twice a day and they’d be sorted into cases by size 15 dozen to a case. That’s three+ cases a day. Once a week a semi would come and pick up our 20+ cases. If there was a blizzard he might be two days late but we still pick them up and sorted them.  When they left us they might be as much as 9 days old. After that they were in the distribution channel. It was to nobodies advantage to not rush them through the process and get them to market.

 

bigger producers have more efficient methods. And it is to no one’s advantage to skip even a day.

 

I repeat the “months old eggs” is a myth

[Lawdog Dago Dom]

Ok. Thanks for the info, and here are some updates.

 

Traveling: It's actually hard to NOT find someone in our area who has not had chickens. Mostly when they had kids growing up, and when the kids flew the coop so did the chickens. With that being said, our immediate neighbors to the west have already volunteered to "chicken sit" when we travel. Several kids in the school where we sub are FFA members and would love to do it. They have grandkids now, and actually were eager to help. And have some leftover stuff from their old coop we could use.

 

Predators: Yep, the are here. The usual suspects with a bobcat or two thrown in. Hawks are everywhere, so an overhead barrier will be required.

 

Coop construction: We did do the Tractor Supply look and see, and they are pretty weak. More like an old Playschool kids clubhouse. We do have a large Amish community nearby, so we will look into that. Also some folks that no longer need their coops may be eager to have them removed.

 

Yeah, it's going to be some adjusting and some work, but we have the room, so why not? If it goes well, I told Shortcake we should try some other livestock. Didn't really get a supportive look from her on that adventure, so we'll just keep that quiet for now.

 

Is it true chickens eat just about anything?

[Rye Miles #13621]

2 minutes ago, Lawdog Dago Dom said:

Ok. Thanks for the info, and here are some updates.

 

Traveling: It's actually hard to NOT find someone in our area who has not had chickens. Mostly when they had kids growing up, and when the kids flew the coop so did the chickens. With that being said, our immediate neighbors to the west have already volunteered to "chicken sit" when we travel. Several kids in the school where we sub are FFA members and would love to do it. They have grandkids now, and actually were eager to help. And have some leftover stuff from their old coop we could use.

 

Predators: Yep, the are here. The usual suspects with a bobcat or two thrown in. Hawks are everywhere, so an overhead barrier will be required.

 

Coop construction: We did do the Tractor Supply look and see, and they are pretty weak. More like an old Playschool kids clubhouse. We do have a large Amish community nearby, so we will look into that. Also some folks that no longer need their coops may be eager to have them removed.

 

Yeah, it's going to be some adjusting and some work, but we have the room, so why not? If it goes well, I told Shortcake we should try some other livestock. Didn't really get a supportive look from her on that adventure, so we'll just keep that quiet for now.

 

Is it true chickens eat just about anything?

Will you be renting pigs?? 

[Lawdog Dago Dom]

1 minute ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

Will you be renting pigs?? 

You trying to get me thrown out before I finish my coffee?

[Buckshot Bob]

1 hour ago, Lawdog Dago Dom said:

 

 

Is it true chickens eat just about anything?

My Dad has always referred to them as a rat with a good reputation 

[Lawdog Dago Dom]

@Tennessee williams Maybe if I have live chickens it will keep me safe from any of them there chicken feet curses in Tennessee?

[Dirty Dan Dawkins]

12 hours ago, Matthew Duncan said:

Chicken wire is used to keep chickens in not for keeping predators out!

I learned a coon and a possum can tear right through it.

[Long Colt Luke]

Although i don't have any right now i used to raise egg chickens and sell eggs. As many people have pointed out,  if it eats meat it will attack a chicken. A shotgun or a 22 is useful tool. I have never calculated the costs of keeping them versus buying eggs, but i know the eggs you'll get will be of a higher quality. I'm sure you could cut down on costs by feeding them scraps, just so long as they get plenty of protein and NO EGGS. Otherwise they'll eat there own eggs. For protection from predators i would suggest a coop with a little fenced in area, that way the can run during the day and you can close them up at night. If you want good egg producers, Rhode Island reds are great, if you want ones you could eat in a pinch go with buff orphingtons. Hope this helps and good luck! Watch put for chicken hawks!

[Long Colt Luke]

Also,  yes! Chickens will eat practically everything! Not sure what's not good for them though.

[Warden Callaway]

Don't have chickens.  But my mom had every type of fowl.  Many ugly ducks, chickens,  genies, gease, turkey, peacock,  doves and quail, to name a few. She'd go to animal swap meets and bring back ugly stuff.  Wasn't for eggs or meat.  Just wanted them. 

 

New to country city neighbors have chickens.  Don't know how he's coming out on them.  He had a "tractor" pin to raise chicks to pullet size.  Moves the pin every couple of days to give them new grass to pick through.  They have 3 boys and a girl to feed. 

 

The one thing I'd consider is the commitment to take care of them 24/7/365.  You just can't pull up and go some place for any length of time. Would have to have someone to back up your job.

[Texas Joker]

I took an old chain link dog run trenched 1 foot down and dropped it in, shed roofed that and attached it to the coop which is the base of an old kids fort so I had a swingset attached to my coop.

Chicken wire between the chain link and roof, rabbit wire on the bottom half buried in the trench. And an electric ankle wire.

Course that doesn't keep all the predators out like this black snake he liked them eggs.

 

And my wife wanted the chickens to roam but not to poop on her porch so I fenced both coops in

 

And ya get tired of filling the feeder so you get creative 

[Sedalia Dave]

Chickens will eat anything that doesn't eat them first.  

 

Ours had the run of the farm except for the garden. They tended to peck at anything edible they could reach and loved to scratch in newly planted beds. They would also pull up and eat freshly sprouted plants.

 

Every night they returned to the coop and after the last one was in we closed their little access door to keep out predators.

 

We had a lot of chickens. Sold the eggs as well as raised them for the fryer. Never had a shortage of chicken poop which makes excellent fertilize. It is on the hot side so be careful when applying it to the garden. We always cleaned out the coop in the late winter and spread it on the garden before plowing and again in the fall after the last harvest.

[Warden Callaway]

 

[The Shoer 27979]

12 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

Yup... I got 'em.  At last count, five Buff Orpington hens (had eight; there is the attrition thing), one "mutt" feral hen and her two surviving offspring, and a gorgeous, very well behaved white Leghorn rooster who just moved in one day*.  I named him "Harland."

*Used to belong to a neighbor, who had a mean ol' roo who'd beat up Harland with some regularity 'til he left home.

 

During laying season** I always have a surplus of eggs.  As noted above, they're really no bargain price wise, but they are significantly better than store-bought eggs.  By the way... supermarket eggs are often several months old by the time you buy 'em.

*These guys... er... gals, that is... need something like 14 hours of light a day to lay well.  If I put a light in the coop with a timer they keep on producing through the winter.

 

I will mostly agree with Matt Duncan on the chicken wire - but properly installed, it will protect the girls from minor predators, like house cats.  Cats won't bother the adult birds, but they find chicks to be quite yummy.  My chicken pen is six ft kennel panels, 24 x 18, with a chicken wire "lid."  

 

On the "disease" front, I always vaccinate my new chicks for "fowl pox."  It's fast and simple.

 

I've lost a number of birds over the years, mostly from old age or heat (black chickens are a bad idea in these parts), and a number of feral chickens who just moved into my yard were killed by predators.  I found six dead under a roosting tree one morning.  Haven't lost any since Mister Pogo the 'Possum got hisself dispatched with a MAS 45 and a single CCI CB Long.

 

But they still contribute.  My lot is 1/3 acre, fenced.  I let my birds free roam during the day, and they do a marvelous job of keeping the area pretty much bug-free.  

 

Oh... and should one wonder, I did not enter the "chicken biz" by design.  The first ones literally just moved in, and I had a soft heart.  Or head.  

I agree with marshal mo hair

I grew up in Petaluma CA. Petaluma use to be the egg capital of the world way back when. I worked at an egg processing plant in my teens. All the small chick ranches brought their eggs there. I no longer remember how many pallet  a day we processed but Safeway picked up a trailer load of eggs every morning. And when the teamsters  when on strike in the '70s there was a course truck picking up every morning taking the eggs to Denver

[Old Man Graybeard]

I'm surprised Shortcake didn't tell you you don't need anymore animals...one old goat is enough...

[Tennessee williams]

7 hours ago, Lawdog Dago Dom said:

@Tennessee williams Maybe if I have live chickens it will keep me safe from any of them there chicken feet curses in Tennessee?

It will if you bring me more eggs. My hens aren't laying right now. I had one turn gay too. She started crowing a while back.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

4 hours ago, Old Man Graybeard said:

I'm surprised Shortcake didn't tell you you don't need anymore animals...one old goat is enough...

Me?

[DeaconKC]

4 hours ago, Tennessee williams said:

It will if you bring me more eggs. My hens aren't laying right now. I had one turn gay too. She started crowing a while back.

Serves ya right!